Arne Slot was slammed for not naming a stronger bench for Liverpool’s FA Cup clash at Plymouth Argyle as the minnows mastered an all-time giant killing. In the biggest shock of this year’s competition so far, the Premier League leaders were knocked out by the side bottom of the Championship. A Ryan Hardie penalty was the difference at Home Park on Sunday, with the Reds’ dream of an unprecedented quadruple coming to an end in the most shocking way.
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Slot made 10 changes to the side that thrashed Tottenham 4-0 just a few days ago to reach the Carabao Cup final, with only goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher retaining his place. Nevertheless, the starting XI still featured a number of quality first-team players including Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota but Darwin Nunez was only recognisable name on the bench. The likes of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Dominik Szoboszlai were nowhere to be seen, given extra rest ahead of the last Merseyside derby at Goodison Park on Wednesday.
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As a result, when Liverpool needed a spark to resurrect the match late on there wasn’t one and they fell to only their fourth defeat of the season in all competitions. ‘When you make as many changes as Arne Slot did, you are always at the risk of getting a disjointed performance. And that is exactly what we saw today,’ former Liverpool youth star Craig Hignett told BBC Radio Merseyside. ‘They have made a lot of changes, but you don’t want to make that an excuse because these players are more than capable.
‘Arne Slot could have had more [senior] players on the bench. It was his choice not to bring Mohamed Salah or Cody Gakpo. ‘As a manager, you live and die by your decisions. But at the end of the day, when he looks back and thinks about it, he might change his mind about one or two things he has done today and one of them would be to have more firepower on the bench. ‘Take nothing away from Plymouth. They defended brilliantly and came out with a win.
‘Liverpool have been so far away from the standards they have set for themselves. It was a really poor performance.’. Slot will undoubtedly name a much, much stronger team when Liverpool travel to Everton on Wednesday night where a win will put them nine points clear at the top of the Premier League. For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
